HOCKEY

National ‘A’ Division
Pioneer Junior College vs Tampines Junior College
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 at CCAB

Update by Leslie Tan. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei, a photographer from Innova Junior College. Thanks, Jun Wei!

Pioneer Junior College (PJC) showed off good teamwork and individual skills when they beat Tampines Junior College (TPJC) 4-0 this afternoon in a National Preliminary Round game.

A PJC attack against TPJC sees the ball pop in the air. © Lai Jun Wei

PJC spent the majority of the first half camped in the TPJC half as they made attack after attack. The TPJC team found it hard to cope with the flowing passes and individual stick work of the PJC team. Perhaps frustrated by the constant attack, TPJC’s no.14 found himself yellow carded and forced to sit out the game for a 10-minute period. Matthew Chong of PJC scored his team’s first goal early in the half and his team mate Redzuan scored the second goal from a penalty corner attempt. In another attack, PJC’s no.18 Daryl Chris Wilfred made a run down the right flank with the ball leaving the defender trailing in his wake. His hard cross was not controlled well by the TPJC defense and the ball popped up high into the ball resulting in the referee blowing his whistle for a penalty corner. However the penalty corner was wasted.



PJC’s Johann Lim (no.11) takes the ball upfield against TPJC. © Lai Jun Wei

In the second half, it was more of the same as PJC attacked relentlessly. Given the freedom of the pitch, they passed the ball among themselves smoothly and evaded their opponents’ defensive attempts with good stick work. Their constant attacks gave them numerous penalty corners but they weren’t able to score from any. However, given their dominance, it was only a matter of time before they scored again, this time through Samuel Chow.

Another scramble in the TPJC goal area sees the ball popping up high. © Lai Jun Wei

With a 3-0 lead, confidence flowed and the fourth goal showed off the team’s teamwork and stick work perfectly. The ball was brought out of defense and involved 4 players in the build up with nice passing and awareness of where each other were. So it was no surprise when Matthew Chong was at the end of the flowing move to hammer the ball into the TPJC goal and seal the victory for his school.

PJC’s no.8 takes the ball into the shooting circle against TPJC. © Lai Jun Wei

PJC now face ACS(I) in a crucial match. Having lost to St Andrew’s Junior College 4-2 and beaten Catholic Junior College 3-0, they must beat ACS(I) to have a chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.

Good luck, PJC!

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in the picture, please let us know your names and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.